I 036. I
𝑪𝒖𝒓𝒔𝒆𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑪𝒐𝒓𝒓𝒊𝒅𝒐𝒓𝒔
❝ coming with us ❞
ARIADNE DIDN'T KNOW HOW TO FLY. She was no angel or child of Zeus. And she didn't actually like flying, seeing as you were so far from the ground, it was a bit nauseating for her.
Jumping out a window five hundred feet above ground is not usually her idea of fun. Especially when she was wearing bronze wings and flapping her arms like a duck.
But somehow, she was better than Percy.
He plummeted toward the valley and the red rocks below. Annabeth yelled from next to Ariadne, "Spread your arms! Keep them extended."
Percy spread his arms out, the wings stiffened, caught the wind, and his descent slowed. He soared downward, at a controlled angle, like a kite in a dive.
Experimentally, he flapped his arms once. He arched into the sky.
No matter how nervous she was, Ariadne click the help but smile at the sight of Percy flying. It was odd to see him so happy to be in the air.
"Yeah!" Percy yelled.
He turned to look at them. Ariadne flew next to Annabeth, trying to keep herself up high enough to not crash into the rocks, but low enough that she wasn't all the way in the air.
Behind them, smoke billowed from the windows of Daedalus's workshop.
"Land!" Annabeth yelled. "These wings won't last forever."
"How long?" Rachel asked.
"I don't want to find out!" Annabeth said.
They swooped down toward the Garden of the Gods. Percy did a complete circle around one of the rock spires and freaked out a couple climbers. Then the four of them soared across the valley, over a road, and landed on the terrace of a visitor center.
It was late afternoon and the place looked pretty empty, but they ripped off their wings as quickly as they could. Looking at them, Ariadne could see Annabeth was right.
The self-adhesive seals that blind the wings to their backs were already melting, and they were shedding bronze feathers. It seemed a shame, but they click the fix them, and couldn't leave them around for the mortals, so they stuffed the wings in trash bins outside the cafeteria.
Ariadne used the tourist binocular camera to look up at the hill where Daedalus's workshop had been, but it had vanished. No more smile. No broken windows. Just the side of a hill.
"The workshop moved," Annabeth guessed. "There's no telling where."
"So what do we do now?" Percy asked. "How do we get back in the maze?"
Annabeth gazed at the summit of Piled Peak in the distance. "Maybe we can't. If Daedalus died... he said his life force was tied into the Labyrinth. The whole thing might've been destroyed. Maybe that will stop Luke's invasion."
Ariadne thought about Grover and Tyson, still down there somewhere. And Daedalus... even though he'd done some terrible things and lit everybody she cared about at risk, it seemed like a pretty horrible way to die.
"No," Nico said. "He isn't dead."
"How can you be so sure?" Ariadne asked.
"I know when people die. It's this feeling I get, like a buzzing in my ears."
"What about Tyson and Grover, then?"
Nico shook his head. "That's harder. They're not humans or half-bloods. They don't have mortal souls."
"We have to get into town," Annabeth decided. "Our chances will be better of finding an entrance to the Labyrinth. We hav two make it back to camp before Luke and his army."
"We could just take a plane," Rachel said.
Percy shuddered. "I don't fly."
"But you just did."
"That was low flying," Percy said," and even that's risky. Flying up high—that's Zeus's territory. I can't do it. Besides, we don't have time for a flight. The labyrinth is the quickest way back."
Ariadne hoped they would find Grover and Tyson along the way.
"So we need a car to take us into the city," Annabeth said.
Rachel looked down into the parking lot. She grimaced, as if she were about to do something she regretted. "I'll take care of it."
"How?" Annabeth asked.
"Just trust me."
Annabeth looked uneasy, but she nodded. "Okay, I'm going to buy a prism in the gift shop, tru to make a rainbow, and send an Iris-message to camp."
"I'll go with you," Nico said. "I'm hungry."
"I'll stick with Rachel, then," Percy said. "Meet you guys in the parking lot."
Ariadne, who hadn't been listening, was looking over at the hill where Daedalus's workshop once was. There was a permanent chill along her spine. The Labyrinth was telling her something, but she didn't know what, and that scared her.
She remembered the dream where she had run from a hellhound in the Labyrinth. It had been years, but it was as clear as day in her mind, and she worried that they wouldn't save the camp, even if she tried to keep herself in high spirits that they would.
She only noticed everyone was looking at her once Rachel cleared her throat. The brunette gave her a blank face, eyes scanning her friends. "I'll meet you guys down there," she said. "I have to do something real quick."
Her friends gave her confused looks. They nodded and went their separate ways. Percy followed behind Rachel like a lost puppy, and the brunette's mood worsened at the sight.
Ariadne leaned against the terrace balcony and peered down, eyeing the drop. She gazed up at the sky and prayed.
Aria, please, I need to talk to you.
It was a quite few seconds until the wind picked up. A sweet smell flooded her nose and she spun around to see the very goddess she hadn't asked for.
"Oh, my dear, look at you," Aphrodite scolded, "you look like you took quite a beating."
The girl rolled her eyes. "I did. What do you want?"
Aphrodite only smiled. "To reason," she said. The goddess picked at her nails. "You and Percy need to happen before the war."
"Why?"
"Fate is a fickle thing," Aphrodite said.
"So is my patience," Ariadne said. "He had Rachel. And he can have that perfect girl from that perfect island. I told you, I'm done."
The goddess's eyes stared at her. "If you don't, it will cause many problems, for everyone."
Ariadne scoffed. "For who? You? The gods? If you haven't noticed, my entire camp is about to be crushed by a Titan army, and that includes your kids, so I suggest to leave me alone and get Aria."
Aphrodite gave her an angry look. "I've told you once, Ariadne. You can not doubt Percy's feelings for you, it will end in catastrophe."
"Already have."
With a wave of her hand, Ariadne was swirled around with wind. And the goddess was gone. Leaving behind a girl who was fashioned in a black t-shirt, a new pair of jean shorts, and her hair in a complicated braid along her back.
The brunette left the terrace with her bag. She walked out the door and headed toward the parking lot just as Nico and Annabeth appeared from the gift shop. They headed toward Percy and Rachel who stood off to the side.
"I talked to Chiron," Annabeth said. "They're doing their best to prepare for battle, but he still wants us back. They're going to need every hero they can get. Did we find a ride?"
"The driver's ready when we are," Rachel said.
The chauffeur was talking to another guy in khakis and a polo shirt, probably his client who'd rented the car. The client was complaining, but she could hear the driver saying, "I'm sorry, sir. Emergency. I've ordered another car for you."
"Come on," Rachel said. She led them to the car and got in without even looking at the flustered guy who'd rented it. A minute later they were cruising down t he road. The seats were leather. There was plenty of legroom. The backseat had flat-panel TVs built into the headrests and a mini-fridge stocked with bottle water, sodas, and snacks. They started pigging out.
Ariadne sat with her shoulder to Percy's, and Rachel on his other side. The brunette ignored the both of them and tried to shimmy herself away from the boy, but Annabeth was sending her looks.
She fiddled with her now empty medicine bottle, having taken her last few pills in a chance to stop herself from throttling Rachel anytime she talked.
"Where to, Miss Dare?" the driver asked.
"I'm not sure yet, Robert," she said. "We just need to drive through town and, uh, look around."
"Whatever you say, miss."
Percy looked at Rachel. "Do you know this guy?"
"No."
"But he dropped everything to help you. Why?"
"Just keep your eyes peeled," she said. "Help me look."
Ariadne rolled her eyes and ate a small piece of chocolate that Annabeth handed her. She sipped a Coke that Nico handed her. It was odd to see him not hating her, but it made her feel a it better.
They drove through Colorado Springs for about half an hour and saw nothing that Rachel considered a possible Labyrinth entrance.
After about an hour they decided to head north toward Denver, thinking that maybe a bigger city would be more likely to have a Labyrinth entrance, but they were all getting nervous. They were losing time.
Then right as they were leaving Colorado Springs, Rachel sat bolt upright. "Get off the highway!"
The driver glanced back. "Miss?"
"I saw something, I think. Get off here."
The driver swerved across traffic and took the exit.
"What did you see?" Percy asked, because they were pretty much out of the city now. There wasn't anything around except hills, grassland, and some scattered farm buildings. Rachel had the driver turn down this unpromising dirt road. They drove by a sight too fast for Ariadne to read it, but Rachel said, "Western Museum of Mining & Industry."
For a museum, it didn't look like much—a little house like an old fashioned railroad station, some drills and pumps and old steam shovels on display outside.
"There." Rachel pointed to a hole in the side of a nearby hill—a tunnel that was boarded up and chained. "An old mine entrance."
"A door to the Labyrinth?" Annabeth asked. "How can you be sure?"
"Well, look at it!" Rachel's air. "I mean... I can see it, okay?"
She thanked the driver and they all got out. He didn't ask for money or anything. "Are you sure you'll be all right, Miss Dare. I'd be happy to call your—"
"No!" Rachel said. "No, really. Thanks, Robert. But we're fine."
The museum seemed to be closed, so nobody bothered them as they climbed the hill to the mine shaft.
When they got to the entrance, Ariadne saw the mark of Daedalus engraved in the padlock, though how Rachel had seen something so tiny all the way from the highway she had no idea. Ariadne touched the padlock and the chains fell away. They kicked down a few boards and walked inside.
For better or worse, they were back in the Labyrinth.
***
HER CHILL HAD NOT REDUCED. She still felt odd in the dirt tunnels that turned to stone. They wound around and split off and basically tried to confuse them, but Rachel had no trouble guiding us. They told her they needed to get back to New York, and she hardly even paused when the tunnels offered a choice.
To Ariadne's surprise, Rachel and Annabeth started up a conversation as they walked. Annabeth asked her more about her background, but Rachel was evasive, so they started talking about architecture. It turned out that Rachel knew something about it from studying art. They talked about different facades on buildings around New York—"Have you seen this one," blah, blah, blah, so she hung back with and walked with Percy and Nico in uncomfortable silence.
"Thanks for coming after us," Percy told him at last.
Nico's eyes narrowed. He didn't seem as angry as he used to—just suspicious, careful. "I owed you for the ranch, Percy. Plus... I wanted to see Daedalus for myself. Minos was right, in a way. Daedalus should die. Nobody should be able to avoid death that long. It's not natural."
"That's what you were after all along," Ariadne said. "Trading Daedalus's soul for your sister's."
Nico walked another fifty yards before answering. "It hadn't been easy, you know. Having only the dead for company. Knowing that I'll never be accepted by the living. Only the dead respect me, and they only do that out of fear."
"You could be accepted," Percy said. "You could have friends at camp."
Ariadne swallowed harshly. Nico had always been a little different, she got that the first time they had met, but since Bianca's death, he'd gotten almost... scary. He had his father's eyes—that intense, manic fire that made someone suspect he was either a genius or a madman. And the way he'd banished Minos and called himself the king of ghosts—it was impressive. But it reminded her all too much of the Nico she had met at the Lotus Casino all those years ago, the one she played Mythomagic with.
Percy looked at Ariadne, who was still holding her medicine bottle and fidgeting with it. She didn't tell him that she missed her necklace. It was usually the very object that helped her calm down, the one that she fiddled with absentmindedly when she focused on homework, or during a sudden quest.
"Hey," he said. "How-how are you?"
Ariadne gave him a short answer. "Fine."
The boy gulped. "Look, I'm sorry," he said. "I didn't mean to be—"
"Stuck on a tropical paradise with a pretty girl," she interrupted. "Yeah, sure you're sorry."
"I am!" Percy told her. His jaw clenched as she only scoffed. "Aidan—"
She gave him a hard glare. The girl dropped her medicine bottle, squeezing her fists tightly. "It's Ariadne," she said. "My name is Ariadne. Not Aidan. I hated that name anyways, just reminds me of my mom."
Before Percy could figure out what to tell him, he ran into Rachel, who'd stopped in front of him. They'd come to a crossroads. The tunnel continued straight ahead, but a side t'd off to the right—a circular shaft carved from volcanic rock.
"What is it?" Percy asked.
Rachel stared down the dark tunnel. In the sun flashlight beam, her face looked like one of Nico's specters.
"Is it that way?" Annabeth asked.
"No," Rachel said nervously. "Not at all."
"Why are we stopping the?" Ariadne asked. She gave the girl a dirty look as she stepped next to her.
"Listen," Nico said.
Ariadne heard wind coming down the tunnel, as if the exit were close. And she smelled something vaguely familiar—something that brought back bad memories.
"Eucalyptus trees," Percy said. "Like in California."
Last winter, they'd faced Luke and the Titan Atlas on top of Mount Tamalpais, the air had smelled like that.
"There's something evil down that tunnel," Rachel said. "Something very powerful."
"And the smell of death," Nico added.
Ariadne and Annabeth exchanged glanced.
"Luke's entrance," she guessed. "The one to Mount Othrys—the Titans' palace."
"I have to check it out," Percy said.
"Percy, no."
"Luke could be right here," Percy said. "Or... or Kronos. I have to find out what's going on."
Annabeth hesitated. "Then we'll all go."
"No," Percy said. "It's too dangerous. If they got hold of Nico, or Rachel for that matter, Kronos could use them. You stay here and guard them."
Ariadne shook her head. "I'm going too."
"No," he said. "I'm not letting you get into harm's way."
She gave him a dangerous look. "Percy, I'm not helpless, I can go with you—"
"I said no." His tone left no room for discussion. And Rachel was expecting the both of them to burst into flames based on their glared, and she was glade that Ariadne wasn't directing hers at her.
Truthfully, both were terrifying.
"Percy, don't," Rachel said. "Don't go up there alone."
"I'll be quick," he promised. "I won't do anything stupid."
Annabeth took her Yankees cap out of her pocket. "At least take this. And be careful love
"Thanks."
Ariadne took a deep breath. The girl stepped closer to the boy. "Do you have my necklace?" she asked quietly. He nodded and reached into his pocket, pulling out the long gold chain with the purple pearl in its vine hoop.
She took it in her hand. The girl clipped it around his neck and tucked it beneath his orange camp shirt. Percy hadn't even noticed she was wearing different clothes, and that her hair was in a braid. But he thought it looked good on her.
"Keep it safe," she said. "Stay safe."
Percy nodded. He put the Yankees cap on. "Here goes nothing." And he sneaked invisibly down the dark stone tunnel.
Ariadne sighed and leaned against one of the stone walls. She remained quite along with her group, all of them watching out for anyone or for Percy running back to them.
It was a few minutes before they heard yelling, and they all stood up straight. Annabeth nodded and they ran down the tunnel.
They arrived near the top of Mount Tam. The Pacific Ocean spread out below, gray under a cloudy sky. About twenty feet downhill, there were two telekhines.
At the mountains peak, where a black marble fortress loomed, just like she'd seen in her dreams. It reminded her of an oversized mausoleum, with walls fifty feet high. There was a thick veil between them and the lower half of the mountain. Above them, the sky swirled into a huge funnel cloud. She couldn't see Atlas, but she could hear him groaning in the distance, still laboring under the weight of the sky, just beyond the fortress.
Ariadne then saw something that made her blood run cold. Standing in a white t-shirt and gray sweatpants, with the same blonde hair and scar on the left side of his face, was Luke. But his eyes weren't blue. No, they were gold—Kronos gold.
In his hand was a scythe—a six foot long blade curved like a crescent moon, with a wooden handle wrapped in leather. The blade glinted two different colors—steel and bronze. It was the weapon of Kronos, the one he'd used to slice up his father, Ouranos, before the gods had taken it away from him abd cut Kronos to pieces, casting him into Tartarus.
Now the weapon was re-forged.
Percy was trying to run, but Luke—Kronos—was making time slow down.
"Run, little hero," he laughed. "Run!"
Percy glanced back and saw him approaching leisurely, swinging his scythe as if he were enjoying the feel of having it in his hands again. Ariadne knew no weapon could stop him.
He was teen feet away when Rachel cried out, "PERCY!"
She launched a blue plastic hairbrush and hit Kronos in the eye.
"Ow!" he yelled. For a moment it was only Luke's voice, full of surprise and pain. Percy's limbs were freed and he ran straight into Rachel, Nico, Annabeth, and Ariadne, who were standing in the entry hall, their eyes full with dismay.
Luke hissed at his eye, but then he noticed Ariadne. "Same scar, huh, Ariadne?" he said. "How's Beckett by the way?"
She glared at him.
"Luke?" Annabeth called. "What—"
Ariadne grabbed her by the shirt and hauled her after them. Percy led them and they ran as fast as get e ever run, straight out of the fortress. They were almost back to the Labyrinth entrance when she heard the loudest bellow in the world—the voice of Kronos, coming back into control. "After them!"
"No!" Nico yelled. He clapped his hands together, and a jagged spire of rock the size of an eighteen wheeler erupted from the ground right in front of the fortress. The tremor it caused was so powerful the front columns of the building came crashing down.
Ariadne heard muffled screams from the telekhines inside. Dust billowed everywhere.
We plunged into the Labyrinth and kept running, the bowel of the Titan lord shaking the entire world beneath them.
And Ariadne had never felt more ashamed of her scar.
authors note:
I'm back. Wisdom teeth are out and my mouth hurts so much but I'm here writing for you guys after a three hour power nap.
I legit felt my soul leave my body when I went to sleep it was so weird.
Also: I love you guy so much and thank you for being patient.
also my stepdad got me pudding and I'm so freaking happy but now I have to take three different medicines and I have a neurology appointment unless I'm in too much pain.
I'm getting anxiety meds I just know it.
Love you guys!